Sonic The Hedgehog

I'm actually in a bit of a rush, as it happens...

Source // Wikipedia

I first saw Sonic The Hedgehog in my youth, on the Sega Mega Drive of a friend, and I didn't see too much of it. In fact, I didn't see too much of the Mega Drive in general, or indeed that friend - nothing nefarious going on, just the way life is. I did play it, though. Briefly.

Most of my experience with the Sonic The Hedgehog series does, therefore, come from playing the games many years later, and I've played a fair few of them. Never to completion and not really for any great length of time, but if you're going to test out Mega Drive emulation, you're going to test it with Sonic, am I right?

He's iconic, his music is iconic, and that first level makes me question whether the first level of Super Mario Bros. is actually the most recognisable or not.

It's a bit of a boring question when you've got a controller in your hands and a need for speed, though, so let's get going.

NHL Hockey

What is Icing and why is it a penalty?

I'm not a big hockey fan - it's not something that's played down my neck of the woods - but whenever a demo of the latest entry into an ice hockey video game series was on a disc or in the latest downloads section, I often checked it out because, as sports games go, they can be pretty cool. Or at least they make you feel pretty cool, zipping around on the ice, pinging a puck into that ridiculously small net.

As it turns out, the origins of these games, NHL Hockey for the Sega Mega Drive, isn't too shabby either, though it did take a little bit of time for me to reach that conclusion...

Let's fall flat on our faces to find out why.

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary

Redshirt's Log, Stardate 94588.73

My first look at Star Trek: 25th Anniversary was a YouTube Let's Play, a long time ago. I forget most of it - even why I watched it. I think I was just interested in seeing what it was about and stuck around when finding out that it was fully voiced by the characters and crew of the USS Enterprise.

Multiple dialogue options voiced by William Shatner in a point and click adventure through space, the final frontier? How could you not be interested in a game that takes its source material and runs with it?

Let's boldly go and find out what it's like to play.

Lemmings

We are not responsible for the loss of sanity, hair or sleep.

I have been waiting for this day to come. Not because I love Lemmings, no - because I can't stand Lemmings. But to be fair to the game, I don't actually know where this loathing for it comes from.

My memory tells me that I first played it way back when, at school, on a bunch of Acorn computers. I'm kinda gutted I don't know of the exact model because that'd be an interesting thing to look up for the nostalgia - far more interesting than looking up Lemmings. Ugh, no, c'mon, let's find some sort of impartiality here.

I first played Lemmings at school, probably as a reward for successfully guiding that turtle into all manner of different shapes. Goddamn, what was that turtle called? I gotta look that up.

No.

Let's get Lemmings out of the way first.

Open the trapdoor.

Mega Lo Mania

Do Gods ever get along?

I've never heard of Mega Lo Mania before, as either Mega Lo Mania or Tyrants: Fight Through Time. A God game from the developers of Wizball and Sensible Soccer. Three really rather different games there and they've all made their way onto the 1001 list. What, then, do we have here?

I've absolutely no idea, and neither has Wikipedia (at the time of writing). I could branch out and do some further, far more in depth research... but I could just as easily fire it up and dive in head first without having a clue...

Geronimooooo!!!

Tecmo Super Bowl

Touchdown

I've not had the greatest of times with video games of American Football on this list so far, but Tecmo Super Bowl for the NES is said to be the pinnacle of the sport's representation on home consoles, to the point where there is still a dedicated following 25 years later.

That must mean it's pretty good, right? Being continually hacked with current roster updates, played in worldwide tournaments, included in a list of 1001 must play video games... Just what am I waiting for?

Hut hut hut and all that.

Hunter

Ready for action.

Source // Wikipedia

When I first read what Hunter was, I had a very similar reaction to that which I had when first seeing Far Cry 2 or even The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion back in the day: "You can do what? Gaming now has the technology to do all that?!"

Both games can owe a lot to Hunter as it happens, though you'll notice a lot more similarities between Hunter and the Far Cry series. You're a lone operative on a mission in a massive open world where the choices are all yours and are probably made on the fly.

Do you want to complete your mission quietly? You can. Do you want to go in all guns blazing? You can. Do you want to fly a helicopter or drive a tank straight to your target? You can. All on the Amiga or Atari ST.

Cruise for a Corpse

Corpse... Cruise...

I had to check I was holding the right book when I turned the page to find out what the next game on the 1001 list was. Cruise for a Corpse, it said. What? I said. Cruise for a Corpse, it said. Well, I never, I said.

Cruise for a Corpse has you fill the shoes of Detective Desuntier, invited aboard a cruise ship only to find the man who invited him dead. An investigation on the open seas the only way to solve the murder - if it really is a murder - in this point and click adventure.

Sorry, Mr Karaboudjan, but it appears your killer will very likely get away with their crime...

Civilization

London has fallen.

The joy of going through a list like this is that I've essentially forced myself into playing games that I would usually avoid, and if not 'avoid like the plague' then 'avoid because I just don't have time'. Or, at least, that what I keep telling myself...

I don't have time to get into Civilization. Properly, certainly. I don't have time to master its tech tree or to learn the best strategy for a given situation or to advance my civilization to the stars via all kinds of routes through some 6 thousand years of history.

But I do have time to see how far I can fumble my way through it. I do have time to see what it's about. I may not finish it successfully, if at all, but I can see how it develops from turn one to turn one thousand and one.

And so, the story of my civilization begins...

Super Castlevania IV

On a dark and eerie night...

There are a fair few series' of games that I've hardly ever touched over the years, and the Castlevania series is one of them. If I have played one, it would have been an early and/or portable one, but I just can't remember.

I know I'm in for a platformer where my main weapon is a whip, where I'll be whipping monsters from classic horror films, as well as some bloke called Dracula, but apart from all that I'll have to consider Super Castlevania IV an unknown game to me.

Let's hope it whips up a storm in my favour, rather than make me whip the controller across the room.